Essence in Chinese / Japanese...

Essence

精髓 / 精髄 is the Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja for essence. This can also be translated as marrow, pith, quintessence, kernel, spirit, etc.

This often refers to the nature or basis of whatever element, plant, animal, being, person, or thing you are talking about.

The original Chinese version (also Korean Hanja) and modern Japanese version of the second character differ a tiny bit: vs.
Both versions are so close that both Chinese and Japanese people will recognize this word. If you want the specifically-Japanese version, click on this link instead of the button above: Order Essence in Japanese

Spirit / Spiritual Essence

神 is the simplest way to write spirit in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean.

This single character alone will conjure up ideas of the spiritual world. 神 can also be translated as "vital awareness" as in the fact that one must know they exist to exist (I think, therefore, I am).

Japanese romanizations vary a lot when this character is combined into other words. However, shin is the original pronunciation taken from Chinese into Japanese. You'll also see it romanized as kami, gami, jin, and a few others, depending on context.

Spirit

精神 is the kind of spirit that you have if you perform well in sports or competition. It is the idea of having a good attitude, and putting your all into something - so much so that others can see or feel your spirit. It is the essence of your being that can only be subjectively described because there are no words that can fully explain what "spirit" really is.

For your information:My Japanese dictionary further tries to explain this word by comparing it to mind, soul, heart or intention.My Chinese dictionary compares these characters to meanings like vigor, vitality, drive and mentality.My Korean dictionary defines this as mind, spirit and soul.

Life Energy / Spiritual Energy

This energy flow is a fundamental concept of traditional Asian culture.

氣 is romanized as "Qi" or "Chi" in Chinese, "Gi" in Korean, and "Ki" in Japanese.
Chi is believed to be part of everything that exists, as in "life force" or "spiritual energy". It is most often translated as "energy flow," or literally as "air" or "breath". Some people will simply translate this as "spirit" but you have to take into consideration the kind of spirit we're talking about. I think this is weighted more toward energy than spirit.

The character itself is a representation of steam (or breath) rising from rice. To clarify, the character for rice looks like this:
Steam was apparently seen as visual evidence of the release of "life energy" when this concept was first developed. The Qi / Chi / Ki character is still used in compound words to mean steam or vapor.
The etymology of this character is a bit complicated. It's suggested that the first form of this character from bronze script (about 2500 years ago) looked like these samples:
However, it was easy to confuse this with the character for the number three. So the rice radical was added by 221 B.C. (the exact time of this change is debated). This first version with the rice radical looks like this:
The idea of Qi / Chi / Ki is really a philosophical concept. It's often used to refer to the "flow" of metaphysical energy that sustains living beings. Yet there is much debate that has continued for thousands of years as to whether Qi / Chi / Ki is pure energy, or consists partially, or fully of matter.

You can also see the character for Qi / Chi / Ki in common compound words such as Tai Chi / Tai Qi, Aikido, Reiki and Qi Gong / Chi Kung.

In the modern Japanese Kanji, the rice radical has been changed into two strokes that form an X.

The original and traditional Chinese form is still understood in Japanese but we can also offer that modern Kanji form in our custom calligraphy. If you want this Japanese Kanji, please click on the character to the right, instead of the “Select and Customize” button above.

More language notes: This is pronounced like “chee” in Mandarin Chinese, and like “key” in Japanese.
This is also the same way to write this in Korean Hanja where it is Romanized as “gi” and pronounced like “gee” but with a real G-sound, not a J-sound.
Though Vietnamese no longer use Chinese characters in their daily language, this character is still widely known in Vietnam.

to empty; vacant; unoccupied; space; leisure; free time; empty; air; sky; in vain (1) empty air; sky; (2) {Buddh} shunyata; emptiness; the lack of an immutable intrinsic nature within any phenomenon; (3) (abbreviation) (See 空軍) air force; (noun or adjectival noun) (4) fruitlessness; meaninglessness; (5) (See 五大・1) void (one of the five elements); (can be adjective with の) (6) {math} empty (e.g. set); (noun - becomes adjective with の) emptiness; vacuum; blank; (female given name) Ron; (personal name) Hiroshi; (female given name) Hikari; (female given name) Haruka; (female given name) Noa; (surname) Sorasaki; (female given name) Sora; (female given name) Sukai; (female given name) Shieru; (personal name) Kuukai; (surname, female given name) Kuu; (female given name) Kanata; (female given name) Kasumi; (female given name) Urue; (surname, female given name) Aki; (female given name) Aoi śūnya, empty, void, hollow, vacant, nonexistent. śūnyatā, 舜若多, vacuity, voidness, emptiness, non-existence, immateriality, perhaps spirituality, unreality, the false or illusory nature of all existence, the seeming 假 being unreal. The doctrine that all phenomena and the ego have no reality, but are composed of a certain number of skandhas or elements, which disintegrate. The void, the sky, space. The universal, the absolute, complete abstraction without relativity. There are classifications into 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 16, and 18 categories. The doctrine is that all things are compounds, or unstable organisms, possessing no self-essence, i.e. are dependent, or caused, come into existence only to perish. The underlying reality, the principle of eternal relativity, or non-infinity, i.e. śūnya, permeates all phenomena making possible their evolution. From this doctrine the Yogācārya school developed the idea of the permanent reality, which is Essence of Mind, the unknowable noumenon behind all phenomena, the entity void of ideas and phenomena, neither matter nor mind, but the root of both.

to be just like oneness; (personal name) Kazuyuki The one ru, i.e. the bhūtatathatā, or absolute, as the norm and essence of life. The 眞如 true suchness, or true character, or reality; the 法性 nature of things or beings. The whole of things as they are, or seem; a cosmos; a species; things of the same order. Name of a celebrated monk, Yiru. V. 一眞; 一實; oneness

the seven planets of premodern astronomy (the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) (1) {astron} the seven luminaries (sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn); (2) the seven days of the week The seven brilliant ones — the sun and moon, together with the five planets which are connected with fire, water, wood, metal, and earth. Their essence shines in the sky, but their spirits are over men as judges of their good and evil, and as rulers over good and evil fortune. The following list shows their names in Chinese and Sanskrit: Sun 日, 太陽; aditya 阿彌底耶Moon月, 太陰; soma 蘇摩Mars火星, 勢惑勞; aṅgāraka 盎哦囉迦Mercury水星, 辰星; budha 部陀Jupiter木星, 歳星; bṛhaspati 勿哩訶娑跛底Venus金星, 太白; śukra 戌羯羅Saturn土星, 鎭星; śanaiścara 賖乃以室折羅; seven celestial bodies

(prefix) (See 三大疾病) the big three ...; (surname) Miou The three great characteristics of the 眞如 in the 起信論 Awakening of Faith: (1) 體大 The greatness of the bhūtatathatā in its essence or substance; it is 衆生心之體性 the embodied nature of the mind of all the living, universal, immortal, immutable, eternal; (2) 相大 the greatness of its attributes or manifestations, perfect in wisdom and mercy, and every achievement; (3) 用大 the greatness of its functions and operations within and without, perfectly transforming all the living to good works and good karma now and hereafter. There are other groups, e.g. 體, 宗, and 用; three kinds of greatness

{Buddh} trikaya (three bodies of the Buddha); (surname) Sanmi trikāya. 三寶身 The threefold body or nature of a Buddha, i.e. the 法, 報, and 化身, or dharmakāya, sambhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya. The three are defined as 自性, 受用, and 變化, the Buddha-body per se, or in its essential nature; his body of bliss, which he "receives" for his own "use" and enjoyment; and his body of transformation, by which he can appear in any form; i.e. spiritual, or essential; glorified; revealed. While the doctrine of the trikāya is a Mahāyāna concept, it partly results from the Hīnayāna idealization of the earthly Buddha with his thirty-two signs, eighty physical marks, clairvoyance, clairaudience, holiness, purity, wisdom, pity, etc. Mahāyāna, however, proceeded to conceive of Buddha as the Universal, the All, with infinity of forms, yet above all our concepts of unity or diversity. To every Buddha Mahāyāna attributed a three-fold body: that of essential Buddha; that of joy or enjoyment of the fruits of his past saving labours; that of power to transform himself at will to any shape for omnipresent salvation of those who need him. The trinity finds different methods of expression, e.g. Vairocana is entitled 法身, the embodiment of the Law, shining everywhere, enlightening all; Locana is 報身; c.f. 三賓, the embodiment of purity and bliss; Śākyamuni is 化身 or Buddha revealed. In the esoteric sect they are 法 Vairocana, 報 Amitābha, and 化 Śākyamuni. The 三賓 are also 法 dharma, 報 saṅgha, 化 buddha. Nevertheless, the three are considered as a trinity, the three being essentially one, each in the other. (1) 法身 Dharmakāya in its earliest conception was that of the body of the dharma, or truth, as preached by Śākyamuni; later it became his mind or soul in contrast with his material body. In Mādhyamika, the dharmakāya was the only reality, i.e. the void, or the immateria1, the ground of all phenomena; in other words, the 眞如 the tathāgatagarbha, the bhūtatathatā. According to the Huayan (Kegon) School it is the 理or noumenon, while the other two are氣or phenomenal aspects. "For the Vijñānavāda... the body of the law as highest reality is the void intelligence, whose infection (saṃkleҫa) results in the process of birth and death, whilst its purification brings about Nirvāṇa, or its restoration to its primitive transparence" (Keith). The "body of the law is the true reality of everything". Nevertheless, in Mahāyāna every Buddha has his own 法身; e.g. in the dharmakāya aspect we have the designation Amitābha, who in his saṃbhogakāya aspect is styled Amitāyus. (2) 報身Sambhogakāya, a Buddha's reward body, or body of enjoyment of the merits he attained as a bodhisattva; in other words, a Buddha in glory in his heaven. This is the form of Buddha as an object of worship. It is defined in two aspects, (a) 自受用身 for his own bliss, and (b) 他受用身 for the sake of others, revealing himself in his glory to bodhisattvas, enlightening and inspiring them. By wisdom a Buddha's dharmakāya is attained, by bodhisattva-merits his saṃbhogakāya. Not only has every Buddha all the three bodies or aspects, but as all men are of the same essence, or nature, as Buddhas, they are therefore potential Buddhas and are in and of the trikāya. Moreover, trikāya is not divided, for a Buddha in his 化身 is still one with his 法身 and 報身, all three bodies being co-existent. (3) 化身; 應身; 應化身 nirmāṇakāya, a Buddha's transformation, or miraculous body, in which he appears at will and in any form outside his heaven, e.g. as Śākyamuni among men; three bodies [of the Buddha]

There are three groups: 性土 and 相土 : the former is the ubiquitous, unadulterated or innocent 法性之理 dharma-name, or essence of things; the latter is the form-nature, or formal existence of the dharma, pure or impure according to the mind and action of the living. The 淨土 and 穢土 are Pure-land or Paradise; and impure land, e.g. the present world. In the Pure-land there are also 報土 , the land in which a Buddha himself dwells and 化土 in which all beings are transformed. There are other definitions, e. g. the former is Buddha's Paradise, the latter the world in which he dwells and which he is transforming, e. g. this Sahā-world; two grounds

There are various definitions of the two aspects of the 眞如 bhūtatathatā. (1) (a) 不變眞如 The changeless essence or substance, e.g. the sea; (b) 隨緣眞如 its conditioned or ever-changing forms, as in the phenomenal world, e.g. the waves. (2) (a) 離言眞如 The inexpressible absolute, only mentally conceivable; (6) 依言眞如 aspects of it expressible in words, its ideal reflex. (3) (a) 空眞如 The absolute as the void, e.g. as space, the sky, a clear mirror; (b) 不空眞如 the absolute in manifestation, or phenomenal, e. g. images in the mirror: the womb of the universe in which are all potentialities. (4) (a) 在纏眞如The Buddha-nature in bonds, i.e. all beings in suffering; (b) 出纏真如the Buddha-nature set free by the manifestation of the Buddha and bodhisattvas. (5) (a) 有垢眞如The Buddha-nature defiled, as in unenlightened man, etc., e.g. the water-lily with its roots in the mud; (b) 無垢眞如 the pure Buddha-nature, purifed or bright as the full moon. (6) 安立 and 非安立眞如 similar to the first definition given above; thusness in two aspects

Complete enlightenment potentially present in each being, for all have 本覺 primal awareness, or 眞心 the true heart (e. g. conscience), which has always remained pure and shining; considered as essence it is the 一心 one mind, considered causally it is the Tathāgata-garbha, considered it is|| perfect enlightenment, cf. 圓覺經.

Mahavairocana (Tathagata); Great Sun; Supreme Buddha of Sino-Japanese esoteric Buddhism; (place-name, surname) Dainichi; (surname) Ookusa Vairocana, or Mahāvairocana 大日如來; 遍照如來; 摩訶毘盧遮那； 毘盧遮那; 大日覺王 The sun, "shining everywhere" The chief object of worship of the Shingon sect in Japan, "represented by the gigantic image in the temple at Nara." (Eliot.) There he is known as Dai-nichi-nyorai. He is counted as the first, and according to some, the origin of the five celestial Buddhas (dhyāni-buddhas, or jinas). He dwells quiescent in Arūpa-dhātu, the Heaven beyond form, and is the essence of wisdom (bodhi) and of absolute purity. Samantabhadra 普賢 is his dhyāni-bodhisattva. The 大日經 "teaches that Vairocana is the whole world, which is divided into Garbhadhātu (material) and Vajradhātu (indestructible), the two together forming Dharmadhātu. The manifestations of Vairocana's body to himself―that is, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas ―are represented symbolically by diagrams of several circles ". Eliot. In the 金剛界 or vajradhātu maṇḍala he is the center of the five groups. In the 胎藏界 or Garbhadhātu he is the center of the eight-leaf (lotus) court. His appearance, symbols, esoteric word, differ according to the two above distinctions. Generally he is considered as an embodiment of the Truth 法, both in the sense of dharmakāya 法身 and dharmaratna 法寳. Some hold Vairocana to be the dharmakāya of Śākyamuni 大日與釋迦同一佛 but the esoteric school denies this identity. Also known as 最高顯廣眼藏如來, the Tathagata who, in the highest, reveals the far-reaching treasure of his eye, i.e. the sun. 大日大聖不動明王 is described as one of his transformations. Also, a śramaņa of Kashmir (contemporary of Padma-saṃbhava); he is credited with introducing Buddhism into Khotan and being an incarnation of Mañjuśrī; the king Vijaya Saṃbhava built a monastery for him.

great emptiness; the void; heaven; the skies; universe; cosmos; original essence of the cosmos; Taixu (famed Buddhist monk, 1890-1947)This term is used in Buddhism, but due to a licensing issue, we cannot show the definition

The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title

Characters

Romaji(Romanized Japanese)

Various forms of Romanized Chinese

Essence

精髓 / 精髄精髓

sei zui / seizui

jīng suǐ / jing1 sui3 / jing sui / jingsui

ching sui / chingsui

SpiritSpiritual Essence

神

shin / kami

shén / shen2 / shen

Warrior EssenceWarrior SpiritMartial

武

bu

wǔ / wu3 / wu

Spirit

精神

sei shin / seishin

jīng shénjing1 shen2jing shenjingshen

ching shenchingshen

Life EnergySpiritual Energy

氣气 / 気

ki

qì / qi4 / qi

ch`i / chi

In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line.In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese.

Successful Chinese Character and Japanese Kanji calligraphy searches within the last few hours...

When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.

Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!

When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.

The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"single-character wall scroll.We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.

Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.

There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.

Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.

The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also
attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over
6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers
in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt
such a feat.

Some people may refer to this entry as Essence Kanji, Essence Characters, Essence in Mandarin Chinese, Essence Characters, Essence in Chinese Writing, Essence in Japanese Writing, Essence in Asian Writing, Essence Ideograms, Chinese Essence symbols, Essence Hieroglyphics, Essence Glyphs, Essence in Chinese Letters, Essence Hanzi, Essence in Japanese Kanji, Essence Pictograms, Essence in the Chinese Written-Language, or Essence in the Japanese Written-Language.